Comentario sobre Esdras 1:1

And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia This book is arranged as a continuation of the Book of Daniel, as is explained in Baba Bathra (15a), and the word [וּבְשְׁנַת] refers back from this [book] to that one, for it is stated in Daniel (9:2): “In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations of the number of the years that the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah the prophet from the destruction of Jerusalem, seventy years.” And so the entire chapter proceeds to relate [the story] of the destruction of the Temple, the time of the Babylonian exile, and his confession, in which he confessed Israel’s sin. The beginning of this book is as follows: After Belshazzar was assassinated, Darius the Mede reigned, as it says (Dan. 6:1): “And Darius the Mede received the kingdom etc.” and after Darius’ death, this Cyrus, the king of Persia, reigned, and in the first year of his reign, the seventy years for the remembrance of the Babylonian exile, [counting] from the day that Jehoiakim was exiled, were completed, as it says (Jer. 29:10): “At the completion of seventy years of Babylon, I will remember you etc.” When Israel returned from the Babylonian exile to the land of Israel, in that year, in the first year of Cyrus, Israel laid the foundation of the Temple, and the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin slandered them to Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he commanded [them] to curtail the work, no longer to build the edifice of the Temple; and the Israelites were idle, for they did not build the Temple during the entire reign of Cyrus and Ahasuerus, who succeeded him, until the second year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the king of Persia, who was Darius, the son of Esther. And in the second year of his reign, they began building the Temple until the building was completed. And from the first year of Cyrus until the second year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus the king of Persia, in whose days the Temple was built, were eighteen years, to fulfill what was said (Dan. 9:2): “from the destruction of Jerusalem, seventy years etc.” And now, in the second year of Darius, seventy years had elapsed since the destruction of Jerusalem; [i.e.,] the destruction of the Temple, when Zedekiah was exiled. From the exile of Jehoiakim until the exile of Zedekiah, when the Temple was destroyed, were eighteen years, and now in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, seventy years since the exile of Jehoiakim, when Israel was exiled to Babylon, were completed, and thereby the verse that states (Jer. 29:10): “for at the completion of seventy years of Babylon I will remember you etc.” was fulfilled. And this is the remembrance, that Israel returned to their soil and built the foundation of the building of the Temple, although it was not yet completed. We find that there were fifty-two years from the exile of Zedekiah, when the Temple was destroyed, until the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia; and eighteen years after the first year of Cyrus, which is the second year of Darius, when Israel commenced to build the edifice, and they completed it. This is proven in Seder Olam (ch. 29), in Tractate Megillah (11b) and in this book, as I explained.

at the completion of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah at the time that the word of the Holy One, blessed be He, which Jeremiah spoke, was completed, as it says (Jer. 29:10): “for at the completion of seventy years of Babylon etc.”

the Lord aroused the spirit the will.

a proclamation He proclaimed a proclamation throughout his kingdom.

and also in writing And he also sent his letter throughout his kingdom about this matter.

saying And so he said to them in his proclamation that he proclaimed and in his epistle that he sent throughout his kingdom.